A lucky turn for county, but many trees took a beating

Tuesday

Oct 30, 2012 at 6:00 AMOct 30, 2012 at 9:05 AM

By George Barnes TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Falling branches, road flooding, downed power lines and strong wind — driving rain sideways at times — had emergency services scrambling yesterday to keep ahead of Hurricane Sandy, which landed on New England more as a bad fall storm than a major disaster.

The storm was not a replay of Hurricane Irene, which battered the area in late August 2011, or last year’s Halloween snowstorm, which left many people without power for weeks. It did cause problems for residents throughout Central Massachusetts. With wind gusts close to 60 miles per hour, trees and limbs fell, damaging homes and vehicles, blocking roads and causing power outages.

Gov. Deval L. Patrick said there was a lot of wind damage, but no serious injuries attributed to the hurricane.

Speaking at 8:30 p.m. from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency bunker in Framingham, the governor said most of the impact in Massachusetts of the weather, which was downgraded to a tropical storm, was in the South Coast of the state. He said that was just then entering its most dangerous stage of high tides and storm surge.

He said that the state was lucky that the hurricane took a turn and did not hit Massachusetts as directly as had been predicted under one scenario.

Mr. Patrick said that 108 people were in shelters by 8:30 p.m. There is capacity for 10,000 to 15,000 people, he said.

“In general we think people can prepare for a normal workday” today, Mr. Patrick said. He said he is cautiously optimistic that commuter rail and MBTA service will be ready by commuting time this morning.

State government offices will be delayed in opening until 10 a.m. today, he said, and he hopes that private businesses will be flexible as well — especially if their employees are coming from the South Coast or Cape Ann.

Schools and many businesses throughout Worcester County were closed yesterday, and Worcester public schools will be closed today, along with many other school districts around the county, because of power outages and in anticipation of continuing bad weather.

In Mendon, a tree fell on a vehicle at 140 Cape Road at 1 p.m., injuring the driver, who was taken to a local hospital. The identity of the driver and his condition were not immediately available.

Erin Harrington and her two young children were in her bedroom at 40 Kenberma Road in Worcester yesterday when an old willow tree she had been meaning to have removed came crashing down, striking her 2007 Toyota sedan. Some of the tree’s smaller branches also came to rest on the roof above her bedroom.

“Thankfully it didn’t crash through the roof,” she said.

Ms. Harrington said fire crews told her the roof was not damaged and that it would be safe to stay in the house. Still, she was undecided yesterday afternoon.

“I have issues with sleeping in a room with a tree on the roof,” she said.

Luckily her husband had parked his car behind hers, and it escaped damage.

On Myrtle Street in Fitchburg, Fitchburg State University senior Kayleigh A. Bennett was sitting in the living room of her apartment yesterday afternoon watching storm updates on television with her three roommates when she heard a huge crash and saw a flash like lightning.

“I ran to the front door and saw my roommate’s car was fine, but I forgot mine was out there,” she said.

Ms. Bennett’s car, a 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass she bought in her junior year, was crushed by a 55-foot tree, almost 4 feet in diameter, which also took out power to several multifamily homes used as off-campus student housing.

“We thought it would rain a little and it would be misty, but there wasn’t much wind,” Ms. Bennett said. “We weren’t expecting a tree to fall.”

In Sterling, two firefighters had a close call when they went to check out a downed tree on Jewett Road at 6:37 p.m. Fire Chief David Hurlbut Jr. said a power line fell on their pickup on Jewett Road and they called for backup. The second team used monitoring meters to determine a fuse had blown and the line was no longer live. After removing the power line, the team drove the truck away.

In Sturbridge, a section of the roof of the former Piccadilly Pub was blown off. Several homes, including a house at Oak Ridge Avenue in Southbridge, were also damaged by falling trees. Also in Southbridge, nine roads were blocked by trees and wires in the afternoon.

The National Weather Service was predicting rain would continue at least through today, with diminishing winds through the day. During the day sustained winds in Worcester were between 21 and 26 mph, with gusts as high as 48 mph. The possibility of rain will diminish significantly Wednesday but wind could still be a factor. The weather service is predicting winds of 7 to 13 mph, with gusts up to 36 mph. Temperatures are expected to remain high, rising to 65 degrees todayand 58 degrees tomorrow.

In anticipation of the storm, Worcester opened its emergency operations center at 7 a.m. yesterday yo coordinate storm-related services. The city’s customer service center was also open yesterday and was expected to remain open for the duration of the storm. Residents wishing to report downed trees, tree limbs, blocked roads, sewage backup or other city-related storm issues may call the service center at (508) 929-1300.The storm prompted Worcester and the Red Cross to open an emergency shelter at Worcester Technical High School on Skyline Drive for residents forced from their homes. Transportation to the shelter is available by calling (508) 798-3252.

There were about 6, 000 customers without power in the city as of 10 last night.

Power companies were preparing for the hurricane well before it reached the Northeast. National Grid had 550 crews — between 1,400 and 1,500 people — on the ground to deal with the expected outages.

National Grid Massachusetts President Marcy Reed said the power company was determined to improve its performance after complaints about its response to Hurricane Irene in August 2011 and the Halloween snowstorm in October 2011. The utility had more than 48,500 customers without power by 9 p.m.

Storm damage assessment is not expected to be completed at least until tomorrow for both National Grid and Unitil.

Alec O’Meara, a spokesman for Unitil, said among the unusual aspects of this storm are its size and duration. He said the peak of the storm was expected to go on for several hours. Through the early evening about 27,000 of the utility’s customers were without power.

Mr. O’Meara said that number was mainly in the New Hampshire seacoast area. The four towns the utility serves in Massachusetts had a total 4,100 of 28,000 customers without power. He said Unitil brought in 260 crews to deal with the storm, with Unitil’s normal workforce of 450 expanded to about 1,000.